supreme people 's court

Opinions on the Legal Trial of Disputes Involving Artificial Intelligence

In order to fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the various plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, ensure the accelerated development of new quality productive forces through strict and impartial judicial services, guide people's courts at all levels to handle disputes related to artificial intelligence in accordance with the law, and based on relevant laws such as the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China, the Data Security Law of the People's Republic of China, the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, the Anti Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, the Personal Information Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, combined with the actual trial work of.



1、 Overall requirements



（1） Guiding ideology



Adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, deeply implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, conscientiously implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important thought on building a strong cyber nation, deeply understand that artificial intelligence is an important driving force for the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, adhere to the combination of development and security, promote innovation and governance according to law, and fairly handle disputes related to artificial intelligence in accordance with the law, promote the improvement of the safety, reliability, controllability, and fairness of artificial intelligence technology applications, and provide strong judicial services and guarantees for comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation with Chinese style modernization.



（2） Basic principles



Adhere to the principle of putting people first. Give full play to the leading role of judicial judgments, actively guide artificial intelligence to enhance people's well-being, and effectively strengthen judicial protection of people's livelihood rights and interests in the digital age. Actively and prudently explore and improve the construction of judicial judgment rules and mechanisms in the field of artificial intelligence, such as algorithm ethics and algorithm rules, make full use of existing legal provisions, properly respond to rule conflicts, social risks, and ethical challenges brought about by the development of artificial intelligence technology, promote the improvement of the social responsibility system of artificial intelligence enterprises, pay attention to preventing and eliminating algorithm discrimination, protect individuals' right to know and choose in automated decision-making in accordance with the law, prevent and regulate the abuse of artificial intelligence technology to infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of the people, and promote the use of artificial intelligence for the people and for the good.



Support innovative development. Respect the laws of technological innovation and the development practices of the artificial intelligence industry, and support technological and industrial innovation with judicial rulings that comply with the spirit of laws and policies and the laws of technological development. Explore new paths for judicial protection of rights and interests, and continuously increase the protection of artificial intelligence innovation achievements, innovation subjects, innovation behaviors, and innovation environments. Balance the protection of rights and interests with the development of the technology industry with a tolerant and cautious attitude, and create a favorable environment that encourages exploration and tolerates failure. Regulating monopolies or unfair competition implemented through the use of artificial intelligence technology in accordance with the law, ensuring equal rights, opportunities, and rules for relevant entities to develop and utilize artificial intelligence technology, and strengthening equal protection of the rights and interests of small and medium-sized enterprises and other business entities. We will actively guide and promote the deep integration of the Internet, big data, AI and the real economy, help foster and expand the AI industry, and maximize the huge potential of AI to enable high-quality economic and social development through the fair and efficient trial of AI disputes in accordance with the law.



Build a solid safety bottom line. Accurately determine legal liability in accordance with the nature and magnitude of the specific damages and risks that artificial intelligence may cause to the legitimate rights and interests of civil subjects in different application scenarios. Distinguish the differences in technical principles, risk spillover, and control capabilities between different types of large models such as general and specialized, open source and closed source, and make reasonable divisions of legal responsibilities for developers, providers, users, and other entities. Fully and accurately implement the criminal policy of balancing leniency and severity, and resolutely punish criminal acts such as intentionally using artificial intelligence to endanger national security, infringe on citizens' rights and interests, and disrupt social order in accordance with the law; For innovative behaviors in the research and application of artificial intelligence, they shall be handled prudently in accordance with the law, and the principles of legality and proportionality between crime and punishment shall be adhered to.



2、 Properly handle cases involving artificial intelligence infringement in accordance with the law, and effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of civil subjects



（3） Accurately grasp the attribution principles of liability for infringement involving artificial intelligence. Accurately apply relevant laws and regulations such as the Civil Code, Personal Information Protection Law, Product Quality Law, Road Traffic Safety Law, etc., and legally determine the legal liability arising from the use of artificial intelligence to infringe upon civil rights and interests. If the law does not explicitly stipulate the application of no fault liability or presumed fault liability, the principle of fault liability stipulated in Article 1165 (1) of the Civil Code shall be used to determine whether the perpetrator bears tort liability. When determining whether the perpetrator is at fault and the degree of fault, a comprehensive consideration should be given to the specific scenarios of artificial intelligence applications, the degree of autonomy, the transparency of technology and information, potential risks and scope of impact, the measures and technical possibilities taken by relevant parties such as artificial intelligence developers and providers to prevent and reduce artificial intelligence infringement, and the ability of artificial intelligence users to foresee and control the damage that may be caused by infringement using artificial intelligence technology.



（4） Regulate in accordance with the law the use of generative artificial intelligence to infringe on personal rights and interests, such as "AI face swapping and voice acting" and "AI resurrection of the deceased". The use of generative artificial intelligence to process the names, portraits, etc. of specific natural persons or deceased individuals shall not violate laws and regulations, nor shall it violate public order and good customs. Unless otherwise provided by law, if a natural person uses artificial intelligence to process their name, portrait, etc. without their consent, generates a virtual digital image that can recognize the natural person, and uses and discloses it, and the natural person claims that the perpetrator has infringed upon their personal rights and interests such as name and portrait, the people's court shall support it in accordance with the law. Unless otherwise provided by law, if a natural person's voice is used as training material without their consent, and their timbre, intonation, and pronunciation style are imitated to generate a synthetic human voice that can recognize the natural person, and the natural person claims that the perpetrator has infringed upon their voice rights, the people's court shall support it in accordance with the law. If a person manipulates the generation and synthesis of virtual digital images or voices that can identify a specific natural person, engages in inappropriate behavior or makes false statements, and lowers the social evaluation of that natural person or others, the people's court shall determine in accordance with the law that it constitutes an infringement of the right to reputation. If the use of artificial intelligence technology to create or use a virtual digital image of a deceased person results in infringement of the deceased's name, portrait, reputation, etc., and the close relatives of the deceased request the perpetrator to bear civil liability in accordance with Article 994 of the Civil Code, the people's court shall support it in accordance with the law.



（5） Regulate the use of artificial intelligence to carry out activities that infringe upon the privacy rights of natural persons, such as "network unboxing" and "human flesh search", in accordance with the law. For the purpose of probing privacy, using artificial intelligence to track and analyze public information such as phone numbers, network accounts, and social media of specific natural persons, obtaining private information, or leaking or disclosing the obtained private information, or using the obtained information to disturb the peace of private life, it shall be deemed to constitute an infringement of privacy rights. If artificial intelligence is used to film, peek, eavesdrop, or engage in other activities in the private space or activities of a specific natural person, it shall be deemed to constitute an infringement of privacy rights, except as otherwise provided by law or with the explicit consent of the natural person.



（6） Legally determine civil liability for infringement of personal information rights during artificial intelligence training. For the training of artificial intelligence models, processing personal information that individuals voluntarily disclose or other legally disclosed personal information within a reasonable range, and individuals do not explicitly refuse, is generally not considered an infringement of personal information rights and interests. If it has a significant impact on individual rights and interests, personal consent shall be obtained in accordance with legal provisions. When determining the reasonable scope, comprehensive consideration should be given to the necessity and appropriateness of the purpose of processing personal information and the functionality of the model, the type and sensitivity of the personal information involved, the potential impact on individual rights and interests, the scenarios in which personal information is publicly disclosed, and the reasonably expected scope of use.



（7） Carefully determine the infringement liability of providers of generative artificial intelligence services. If the content automatically generated by generative artificial intelligence infringes on the personal rights and interests such as reputation and privacy of others, and the provider of generative artificial intelligence services fails to take necessary measures such as stopping the generation of infringing content in a timely manner after being notified by the rights holder, they shall bear the liability for infringement in accordance with the law for the damage caused. The notice should include preliminary evidence of infringement and the true identity information of the rights holder. If a network user maliciously induces generative artificial intelligence to generate infringing content and causes harm to others by inputting infringing prompt words or other means, the network user shall bear the liability for infringement in accordance with the law; Upon notification from the rights holder, if the provider of generative artificial intelligence services fails to take necessary measures such as stopping the generation of infringing content and blocking relevant generation instructions in a timely manner, and the rights holder requests the network user and the provider of generative artificial intelligence services to bear civil liability in accordance with Article 1195 of the Civil Code, the people's court shall support it in accordance with the law.



（8） The system of prohibiting infringement of personality rights shall be applied in accordance with the law. If a natural person, legal person, or unincorporated organization has evidence to prove that the perpetrator is using artificial intelligence to commit or is about to commit illegal acts that infringe upon their personality rights and interests, and fails to stop them in a timely manner, it will cause irreparable damage to their legitimate rights and interests. If they apply to the people's court for measures to order the perpetrator to stop the relevant acts or order the relevant network service providers or generative artificial intelligence service providers to stop providing the relevant services, the people's court may make a personality rights infringement injunction in accordance with the law. When making an injunction against infringement of personality rights, the people's court shall take corresponding injunctions based on factors such as the type of personality rights being infringed, the mode of illegal behavior, and the scope and degree of damage that may be caused, and shall not exceed the necessary limits.



（9） Accurately identify the responsibility of artificial intelligence products. The people's court shall accurately identify artificial intelligence products based on the definition of "product" in the Product Quality Law, and apply corresponding legal rules in accordance with the law. If artificial intelligence products have defects that cause damage, producers and sellers shall bear product liability in accordance with the law. When determining whether artificial intelligence products pose unreasonable risks to personal and property safety, comprehensive consideration should be given to the nature and purpose of the artificial intelligence product, self-learning ability, upgrade and update situation, user control over the system, and whether it complies with relevant national and industry standards. The focus should be on examining whether producers and sellers have provided truthful explanations and clear warnings about the applicable scenarios, inherent limitations, and foreseeable risks of the artificial intelligence product.



（10） Regulate behaviors that infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, such as "big data murder" and "counterfeit celebrity sales", in accordance with the law. If a business operator uses algorithms to implement unreasonable differential treatment in transaction prices and other transaction conditions for the same product or service, causing harm to the legitimate rights and interests of others, the people's court shall determine that it shall bear corresponding liability for infringement in accordance with the law. When determining whether it constitutes unreasonable differential treatment, the reasons for implementing differential treatment should be comprehensively considered based on whether the differential treatment substantially restricts or damages consumers' rights to information, autonomy, fair trade, etc., whether it is based on consumers' consumption preferences, willingness to pay, ability to pay, browsing history and other information to form personal transaction conditions, whether it violates the principle of good faith and business ethics, and whether the reasons for implementing differential treatment are legitimate, sufficient and non discriminatory. If a business operator uses artificial intelligence to carry out "counterfeit celebrity sales" and constitutes fraud when providing goods or services, and a consumer claims punitive damages in accordance with Article 55 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law, the people's court shall support it in accordance with the law.

（11） According to the law, the liability for compensation for traffic accidents involving autonomous vehicle and vehicles with auxiliary driving function shall be determined. If a autonomous vehicle or a vehicle with auxiliary driving function runs on the road and causes damage due to a traffic accident, it shall be liable for compensation in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Code and the Road Traffic Safety Law. If a traffic accident causes damage due to product defects in the vehicle, and the party requests the producer or seller to bear compensation liability in accordance with Chapter 4 of Part 7 of the Civil Code, the people's court shall support it. If a vehicle with assisted driving function causes the same damage due to the combination of vehicle defects and the driver's fault behavior, and the parties request both the driver and the vehicle manufacturer or seller to bear compensation liability in accordance with Article 1172 of the Civil Code and other provisions, the people's court shall support it in accordance with the law. Vehicle manufacturers and sellers who make false or misleading propaganda about the automation level, intelligence, performance, and use of autonomous vehicle and vehicles with auxiliary driving functions, damage the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and consumers who request vehicle manufacturers and sellers to bear civil liability in accordance with the Civil Code, the Consumer Protection Law and other laws and regulations, the people's court shall support them in accordance with the law. To investigate the cause of road traffic accidents, the people's court may require data controllers such as vehicle manufacturers, sellers, or operators to provide, within the necessary scope, true and complete records of autonomous driving and assisted driving incidents and other data required to determine the facts of the case.

3、 Properly handle intellectual property disputes related to artificial intelligence in accordance with the law, ensuring high-quality development and high-level security of artificial intelligence



（12） Regulate behaviors involving artificial intelligence infringement of intellectual property rights in accordance with the law. If the content generated by artificial intelligence infringes on the copyright of others, the people's court shall comprehensively consider factors such as the type of artificial intelligence service, industry characteristics, training data sources, participation of all parties, necessary measures taken, and profit situation, and reasonably determine the responsibility of artificial intelligence developers, providers, and users in accordance with the law. If artificial intelligence developers raise a non infringement defense, they should be ordered to provide evidence such as training data sources, training process records, model operation modes, and scientific theoretical basis. If the rights holder claims that the artificial intelligence provider has infringed its copyright by using algorithm technology, relevant evidence should be provided. If an artificial intelligence user knows or should know that a prior work exists and uses artificial intelligence to generate a work that is substantially similar to the prior work without reasonable grounds for defense, and the prior work rights holder requests them to bear infringement liability, the people's court shall support it. Those who use artificial intelligence to commit acts such as infringement, counterfeiting, false advertising, and brushing orders, which infringe on the rights of others or constitute unfair competition, shall bear corresponding responsibilities in accordance with the law.



（13） Reasonably determine the legal responsibility of parties involved in open source software related to artificial intelligence in accordance with the law. When adjudicating cases involving open source software and determining the infringement liability of open source software developers, providers, and subsequent developers and providers, factors such as the type of open source license agreement, specific content of rights restrictions, security compliance measures, and degree of information disclosure should be comprehensively considered, and appropriate liability exemptions should be granted to open source software developers and providers in accordance with the law. Open source software developers and providers provide some code modules required for artificial intelligence software development in a free and open source manner, and publicly explain their functions and security risks. If others use the code modules and cause infringement, the people's court may determine that open source software developers and providers do not bear infringement liability.



（14） Standardize the authorization and confirmation of patents related to artificial intelligence inventions and creations in accordance with the law. If an invention or creation involving artificial intelligence adopts technological means that follow natural laws, solves technical problems, and achieves technological effects that conform to natural laws, the people's court shall legally recognize it as an object protected by the Patent Law, except for those that violate laws, social ethics, harm social public interests, or natural persons have no substantial contribution. If a natural person uses artificial intelligence to complete an invention or creation and makes creative contributions to the substantive features of the invention or creation, the natural person shall be recognized as the inventor. If the description of the technical solution in the patent specification related to artificial intelligence reaches the level that ordinary technical personnel in this field can realize the invention, it shall be deemed to meet the conditions for sufficient disclosure of authorization.



（15） Reasonably and prudently determine the liability for breach of contract related to artificial intelligence technology. When the people's court hears cases involving disputes over the development, transfer, licensing, consulting, and service contracts of artificial intelligence technology, it shall, in accordance with the contract, fully consider the characteristics of artificial intelligence technology research and development, whether the technology developer has made reasonable efforts, and other circumstances to determine the liability for breach of contract in accordance with the law.



（16） Standardize the use of artificial intelligence data in accordance with the law. If artificial intelligence developers legally obtain data and enjoy corresponding data rights and interests through collection, generation, derivative creation, acquisition, authorization and licensing, the people's court shall protect them. For data and data collections that constitute a compilation work or meet the constituent elements of other works, they should be protected in accordance with the Copyright Law. Data and data sets that constitute trade secrets shall be protected in accordance with the Anti Unfair Competition Law. For data and data sets that do not constitute trade secrets, if the accused infringement violates Article 13 of the Anti Unfair Competition Law, they shall bear legal responsibility. Business operators who use technological means such as data and algorithms to reach monopoly agreements or engage in behaviors such as abuse of market dominance shall bear corresponding responsibilities in accordance with the law. Those who use techniques such as fictitious interference data, malicious annotation of data, and adversarial sample attacks to damage the safety of artificial intelligence operation shall bear corresponding responsibilities in accordance with the law.



4、 Improve the procedural rules for handling disputes involving artificial intelligence, and punish illegal and criminal acts such as using generative artificial intelligence to obstruct judicial order in accordance with the law



（17） Accurately investigate the facts of disputes involving artificial intelligence in accordance with the law. Based on the technical and professional characteristics of disputes involving artificial intelligence, people's courts should strengthen litigation guidance and clarification in accordance with the law, and guide parties to timely and comprehensively provide evidence around the disputed facts. If the parties are unable to collect evidence on their own due to objective reasons, they may apply to the people's court for investigation and collection; When necessary, the people's court may investigate and collect evidence in accordance with its authority. If a party applies for evidence preservation for a fixed key technology, the people's court shall promptly review it in accordance with the law. If the party controlling documentary evidence, electronic data and other evidence refuses to submit without justifiable reasons, and the other party claims that the content of the evidence is unfavorable to the controller, the people's court may determine that the claim is established. For professional issues related to the principles and operating mechanisms of artificial intelligence technology, the people's court shall fully utilize the roles of people's jurors, appraisers, expert assistants, and technical investigators in accordance with the law to assist in determining the facts of the case.



（18） Explore and improve the rules for reviewing evidence in disputes involving artificial intelligence. People's courts should fully consider the complexity of artificial intelligence technology, the opacity of system operation, and the particularity of evidence collection, and continuously improve evidence review rules that adapt to the development of new technologies. Focus on reviewing the authenticity and integrity of electronic data generation, collection, storage, and transmission processes. Clearly differentiate the focus of evidence review for evidence generated by different information technologies such as big data and blockchain. For evidence in big data analysis reports, the focus should be on examining the source of the original data, cleaning rules, and the scientific validity of the analysis methods; For evidence of blockchain storage, the focus should be on examining the authenticity of the data before it is uploaded to the chain and the reliability of the technical platform. If the parties use artificial intelligence generated content as evidence of infringement, the people's court shall comprehensively consider the design of prompt words and their impact on the generated results, the similarity between the generated content and the claimed work, the consistency of repeated testing, as well as factors such as model training, algorithm design, and content filtering mechanism to determine.



（19） Regulate the use of artificial intelligence for improper evidence collection and other actions that disrupt judicial order in accordance with the law. If a party uses the characteristics of autonomous learning and decision-making of artificial intelligence to obtain false evidence through human intervention or misleading methods such as deleting or tampering with generated synthetic content identifiers, specific instruction inputs, selective result presentation, adversarial interference, etc., fabricates the basic facts of a civil case, conducts false litigation, and attempts to infringe upon national interests, social public interests, or the legitimate rights and interests of others, the people's court shall reject their lawsuit request in accordance with the law and impose fines or detention according to the severity of the circumstances; Those who commit crimes shall be held criminally responsible in accordance with the law. If litigation participants or other persons use artificial intelligence to forge evidence and obstruct the trial of a case by the people's court, they shall be dealt with in accordance with Article 114 of the Civil Procedure Law. If litigation participants submit litigation documents, case search reports, and other materials generated using artificial intelligence, they should carefully verify the authenticity and accuracy of relevant laws, judicial interpretations, cases, and other content before submitting them to the court. When submitting them to the court, they should explain the use of artificial intelligence assistance and take legal responsibility for the authenticity and accuracy of the relevant content.



（20） Punish criminal activities committed using artificial intelligence in accordance with the law. Those who use artificial intelligence to commit fraud, insult, defamation, damage business reputation, damage product reputation, infringe on citizens' personal information, illegally obtain computer information system data, produce, sell, disseminate obscene materials, and other acts that constitute crimes shall be held criminally responsible in accordance with the law. If the perpetrator activates the assisted driving function and evades the monitoring of the assisted driving system by using accessories installed without authorization, resulting in a road traffic accident and constituting a crime, criminal responsibility shall be pursued in accordance with the law.



5、 Intensify guidance on the trial of disputes involving artificial intelligence and continuously improve the working mechanism



（21） Fully leverage the role of diverse dispute resolution mechanisms. People's courts should actively use diverse dispute resolution mechanisms to properly resolve disputes related to artificial intelligence, promote the establishment of linkage and collaboration mechanisms with AI industry regulatory departments, industry-specific professional mediation organizations, AI experts and scholars, etc., jointly carry out dispute resolution work, and implement proactive mediation. Based on the judicial trial function, we will promote the improvement of the rule of law level in the prevention and resolution of disputes related to artificial intelligence. We will actively clarify rights and obligations, delineate behavior boundaries, and play a leading role in judicial judgments through open court hearings and case interpretation. We will promote the prevention and timely resolution of disputes related to artificial intelligence at the source.



（22） Strengthen judicial supervision and guidance. Actively standardize the application of hierarchical jurisdiction, strengthen the role of demonstration and guidance, and implement trial supervision and guidance. For cases involving significant interests, complex new types, significant rule establishment, and the need for unified legal application standards related to artificial intelligence disputes, they shall be reviewed by higher-level people's courts. Fully utilize the case library of the people's courts, strengthen case guidance work, promote the unification of legal application and the improvement of artificial intelligence governance rules.



（23） Strengthen departmental collaboration and coordination. By issuing judicial recommendations, establishing cooperation mechanisms, and other means, we can fully leverage the judicial function to serve national and social governance. Strengthen coordination and collaboration with departments such as cyberspace, public security, procuratorial, and market supervision, and establish and implement a long-term comprehensive governance mechanism. Guide relevant enterprises, platforms, industry associations, and other organizations to regulate and self govern, and promote the formation of a full chain protection force for self-discipline, administrative supervision, and judicial protection in the artificial intelligence industry.



（24） Strengthen international judicial exchanges and cooperation. Properly handle cross-border disputes involving artificial intelligence and data, promote international judicial exchanges and cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence based on the principles of mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit, strengthen rule docking and mutual learning, promote the construction of a more fair, reasonable, inclusive, and open artificial intelligence governance system, and promote and protect the diversity of the artificial intelligence ecosystem and human civilization.